Mr McCarthy died in Orange on Saturday surrounded by his family.

He was a larger than life character, who endeared himself to people with his caring nature.

He loved playing his regular round of golf at Duntryleague and it was only in the last few months he had to give up the game which had been such a big part of his life. He still met up with his mates on a regular basis at the club.

Mr McCarthy and his late wife Pauline had six children, Trish, Brian, Meg, Michael, Gavin and Paul.

The family lived for many years in the historic home on the corner of Moulder and Anson streets before moving to Park Lane.

However after his wife passed away Mr McCarthy decided to move to the residence above his workplace - McCarthy’s Pharmacy in Summer Street, where he lived for several years before moving to Byng Street when he retired from the pharmacy.

In his retirement Mr McCarthy loved catching up with his family and friends and motoring around the city and even driving interstate well into his senior years.

He also loved putting in a hard day’s work on his farm near Orange.

Mr McCarthy also enjoyed working for the community, serving with Legacy and Rotary in Orange.

However it was his work as a long-serving and highly respected pharmacist that perhaps best defines Max McCarthy.

As one of four boys growing up during the Great Depression he and his brothers had to draw straws to decide the one child who the family could afford to send to university.

He graduated from Sydney University with a degree in Pharmacy in 1937. With war breaking out just a couple of years later he enlisted and worked on the hospital ship Manunda in the Pacific Islands caring for Australian casualties.

Mr McCarthy and his family moved to Orange in 1952 and he purchased a pharmacy from Don Fisher which was the original Fox Martin pharmacy established in 1901.